Where Filmed

Vikings Lake Location: Season 5 Complete and Updated Guide

You would expect the answer to be somewhere in Scandinavia. Nevertheless, all the seasons of Vikings have been filmed almost entirely in the Wicklow county of Ireland (until the latest ones). Within a very short range near the studio you find rugged mountains, fairytale-like forests, gorgeous lakes and the seaside. Also the soundstages are in less than an hour driving from Dublin, where most of the many extras required come from.

In Ireland exists a competitive tax incentive that encourages shooting TV series and films. This may be the reason why the makers of Vikings prefer to stay in the island unlike Game of Thrones, that has been filmed in nine different countries so far. However, after a short incursion into Canadian lands, the production also has landed in Morocco and Iceland for shooting parts of season 4 and 5.

The series follows the adventures of Ragnar Lodbrok and his lineage, a legendary 9th century hero who plundered Northumbria, France and Britain. As usual, we are not talking about the plot of the show, to keep this post about where Vikings was filmed spoiler-free as much as we can:

Almost all the locations for Vikings are found in Wicklow County, going south of Dublin. This small region has been transformed into England, France or Norway, as needed. The countryside in the valley of Glendalough has the magical look that many other productions have appreciated before, like the 1981 mythical film Excalibur. The forests in Wicklow have almost untouched areas and ancient trees that give a good sense of wilderness.
(You can open all the locations on Google Maps clicking on the links below in the captions ↴)Image by Rob Hurson - Map

The Kattegat Vikings set Lake location

The lake Lough Tay is a key Vikings location in the show. The set of the Viking Kattegat village was at the right, near the shore, before it was dismantled and moved to Ashford Studios in Ballyhenry.Image courtesy of History Channel and Kilgarron - Map

The image below is a recent updated pic from the set of Vikings at Ashford Studios, during the filming of new episodes for Season 6. If you open Google Maps (link below), you can appreciate the layout of the set and the mini-artificial lake from satellite imagery (upper photo). Image courtesy of History Channel - Map Location of Vikings Set

In fiction, our favorite Vikings come from a settlement in the sound of Kattegat, located under a fjord in southern Norway. Image courtesy of History Channel

Some other lakes of the area like Lough Dan (pictured below) and Blessington Lake have been used to shot scenes on board the Viking longships. For Vikings Season 4 the crew was filming in River Boyne, outside Drogheda. Image courtesy of History Channel and Attila Hargitay - Map

Some stunning locations can be found following the Wicklow Way that goes across the mountains, near some of the lakes. The northern coastline of Lough Tay belongs to Luggala Estate, owned by the Guinness family. Outdoors shot in these lands are often digitally edited to add snowy mountains and other Scandinavian elements to the scene. Image by Rob Hurson - Map

Filming took place in the nearly 400 ft high Powerscourt Waterfall. This is a popular tourist attraction along with the house and Italian gardens of the Powerscourt Estate, a location also used in the second season of AMC's Into the Badlands. In County Kerry, Nuns Beach was doubling as Northumbria.Image by Kilgarron and Luther1968 - Waterfall Map and - Beach Map

In the third season, some of the great scenes for the siege of a certain city (no spoilers, just in case), were made using computer-generated imagery. All these scenic locations are also practically placed in the backyard of Ashford Studios, where Vikings has its filming headquarters. A few scenes for the fourth season were filmed in Canada, in a forest in Northeastern Ontario (not far from Sault Ste. Marie Airport).Image courtesy of History Channel - Map Canada

Vikings was also filming on location in Morocco. The Sahara desert near Erfoud and Errachidia is representing Mediterranean and North African territories. The fortress of the Byzantine commander in Sicily (pictured) was recycled from the Kindom of Heaven 2005 movie decorates in Atlas Studios (Ouarzazate).Image courtesy of History Channel - Map

The Land of the Gods that Flóki discovers during season 5 was filmed in the black sand beaches near Vík in gorgeous Iceland. The exact location of the beach is to the right of Dyrhólaey cape, where there is the arch with the hole and some seastacks in the background. Image courtesy of History Channel - Map

Skógafoss is one of the most popular waterfalls on the Ring Road southwest itinerary. In episode S05E03 Flóki hikes to Kvernufoss Waterfall, and there is a scene filmed at Krýsuvík geothermal area near Reykjavik. In episode S05E06 there is also a view of Dettifoss waterfall, located in the north of the country. We don't know yet the location of the small Viking settlement with a blue pool, as some of the elements of this landscape (the geyser) were added using CGI. - Skógafoss Map

How are you liking the new episodes of Season 5? Can you help to improve this article about the filming locations of Vikings series? To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!

NOTICE: If you’re using this information on your website, please credit and link to this page as a source.
*****

11
comments

It annoys me how people go on about spoilers, as then you can't find anything about what will happen when you want to know. If people are that sensitive about it, why are they reading articles about it online?

Oh hell why do some people have to be so anal retentive it is one of the greatest t.v shows to have ever aired on television. The locations the cast the story line I could go on and on. Hats of to everyone who had a hand in making it happen oh and Travis Fimmel could not have been better he made Ragnar the great just that GREAT!!!!!

It's good, but it's really no where near being one of the greatest series to have ever aired on television. The casting and acting is generally believable, the scripting is occasionally a little ropey, and the editing and use of slow-mo is also a little contrived/ distracting at times. However the soundtrack, title music and general feel of the show via locations, cinematography, colour grading and CGI is all pretty much top notch. It is gritty realism, but blended with the mystical belief system of the Norsemen in such a way that it probably owes more to Robin of Sherwood than it does any other series, with perhaps the exception of Game of Thrones (sex, gore, more sex...).

Mentioning the 845 Siege of Paris in regards to a series that chronicles the life of Ragnar Lodbrok (albeit in a pick and choose fashion) is in no way a spoiler. That is akin to stating that telling people 'the ship sinks' is a spoiler for Titanic.

The acting (at least the very main characters... Ragnar, Floki,now Ivar, etc.. is freaking amazing. The crazy intricate mannerisms and quirky inflections are mind blowing. ESPECIALLY new and improved Ivar. The inherent "focused rage" is exquisite. You're just being a hater. There's a couple "ropey" plot lines (the Emperor of China's daughter story line) but most is great. For being loosely based on history, and "real" mythology, and without throwing in ridiculous dragons and sh!t, the show is absolutely stunning. I personally agree with Tony. It's probably my favorite show of all time. Staples like The Sopranos, or Breaking Bad, are "better shows", but this one always has me more exited week to week to see what happens that any of the others. That means something. Plus instead of going backwards and shortening the amount of episodes every season, they doubled down and started doing twenty. They don't skip a month for Christmas. They just rock.

Why bring so technical about production, using the cinema jargon. Simply a show off. Yet the soundtrack is more intriguing than the actual production. That is an ignorancexcellent in its entirety. We love this film because of acting and scenery and bold impressions of historical capturing, not the soundtracks....What is really fascinating about the plot is how much courage, hostility, love and lion-heart behavior are exhibited by main characters. Freedom, adventure, kinship, loyalty, philosophy, spirituality, those are just a few that makes this film on of the best ever...

Thanks for taking us through! I appreciate it 😊. I still don’t get why they are using the name of the danish sea - “Kattegat” for the Viking village. According to the history and old sagas , they were from Denmark and probably “Lejre” or “ Fyrkat”. However there no mountains or waterfalls so it’s not that good tele.

We love vikings and glad the nudity and sex is not the same as thrones, we can watch it as a whole family with neighbours and not worry about anyone feeling too uneasy etc.. the girls even watch it without saying they are being sexualized too much etc.. awesome show!